


Swing

by ArtInMotion



Series: Bucky Barnes Bingo 2019 [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Bucky Barnes Bingo 2019, Bucky likes to be called James, Dancing, Gen, M/M, Steve and Bucky aren't together, Swing Dancing, but they could be soon, implied/referenced dissociation, not in this fic though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-05
Updated: 2019-04-05
Packaged: 2020-01-04 22:29:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18353000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArtInMotion/pseuds/ArtInMotion
Summary: Square B5: DancingJames is not really ready for this party. He doesn't feel like himself. He really just wants to sit at the bar with Bruce until it's over.Thor has made it his mission to dance with every team member at Tony's Press Party. The night is coming to a close, and Bucky is the last one left.





	Swing

**Author's Note:**

> Hey!  
> This is my first fill for the Bucky Barnes Bingo 2019. It's also my first bingo event ever! I'm so happy to take part in this, and I cannot wait to see all the other fills.
> 
> Big thanks to my Beta for this fic: 
> 
> [Faustess](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faustess/profile)
> 
> All mistakes are mine. Enjoy!

“You look good, Солдат _(Soldier)_ ,” Natalia brushes some imaginary speck off the collar of his tuxedo jacket before stepping away to find her heels. James peers into the mirror, taking a good look at the man staring back. Steve will think he looks like the old Bucky. Today it is hard to recognize his reflection, but Dr. Reid made it clear that recovery is not linear. So today it is ok that James can’t quite connect his brain to the eyes staring back at him. Today he has people that love him anyway. Behind him, Natalia takes a seat at his desk to slip on her shoes. James can’t pinpoint when she began to trust him enough to turn her back to him on one of his bad days, but he is grateful. He turns from the mirror; the people closest to him know exactly who he is. Today that is enough.

Natalia stands, giving herself a once over before linking their arms together, “Let’s get this over with.” Hawkeye is waiting for them in the elevator, looking stunning in a three piece, lavender suit. The lapels and detailing are black velvet, and James has the strongest urge to run his metal fingers against the material. Since Shuri replaced his arm, he can feel much more than pressure and heat. At first, it was overwhelming, but eventually his curiosity had driven him into some very awkward situations.

Clint, the saint he is, brings it up before James has to ask, “When Pepper first mentioned this whole velvet situation, I wasn’t to sure about it. But this is great. Feel this!” He grins and runs his hand down his chest as he speaks. Then he turns that grin on the brunette, and something like understanding sparks in his eyes. James loves him a little more as he carefully brushes a few fingers against the suit jacket. Clint smiles again, satisfied with himself, and asks JARVIS to take them to the party.

When the elevator doors open to the ballroom floor, James takes a step back. He knew that this wouldn’t be any different from the rest of Stark’s parties. They’re always so crowded. Logically, James knows that everyone invited had been vetted beforehand, and of course, JARVIS is keeping an eye out for any suspicious behavior. That doesn’t do much to help the paranoia that seems to want to suffocate him.

Natalia gives a small tug at their connected arms, “Все будет хорошо _(It’ll be fine)_.” He still has yet to figure out why Russian comes to him easier than English or why it’s so comforting.

“It might even be fun,” Clint pipes up as he walks out of the elevator. James only offers a small smile in response, but he sincerely doubts it. He and Natasha follow Clint’s lead and a sense of dread makes itself at home in the pit of his stomach as JARVIS announces their arrival and Tony materializes to welcome them. “My three favorite assassins! Do you like the new touch?” He barrels on without an answer, handing flutes of champagne to Natalia and James, “Sorry Legolas, I only have two hands. Anyway, Thor was explaining Asgardian customs to me, and he mentioned that whenever you enter the royal palace, someone announces your arrival.” James is thankful for Tony’s ability to read people. As he talks he positions himself in the way of anyone who might approach the vet without breaking stride, “I thought about hiring a real person to do it, but then I realized they couldn’t possibly know everyone's name. And asking them would make it three times less cool at least. So in order to maximize the cool factor, I just asked JARVIS.” 

“That’s really sweet, I bet Thor is getting a kick out of it,” James gives the room a quick scan, trying to locate the aforementioned god.

Tony sputters for a moment, “Well, yeah. He uh, well, he’s definitely enjoying himself. At first, I hadn’t specified to JARVIS that he need only introduce someone the first time they enter the party, and Thor really had a field day with that. I’m talking like, every 5 minutes he was leaving and coming back. But, I fixed it of course. That’s what I do.”

Natalia took a sip of her champagne and gave Stark an unimpressed look, “Good, you can fix my drink then. There is no alcohol in this.” 

Stark leans in to sniff the liquid, “Brucey must have thought they were both for me. “Unfortunately, I do have some schmoozing to do, so I can’t hang around you gorgeous people all night. Seriously, who dressed you? Your ass looks better than mine right now, RoboCop, and that is unacceptable. It was Pepper wasn’t it? That traitor.” He smiles one last time before slipping away with, “You know the deal. Let JARVIS know if you need anything.”

James turns to Natalia, “I guess that means you have to go fix your own drink."

Clint huffs, “Well I’m going to dance. You guys are welcome to join me. Unless of course, you don’t think you can handle these moves?” He makes a show of spinning and rolling his hips.

“Barton, don’t start something you can’t finish. We both know who’s the better dancer of the two of us.” She’s not wrong; where Nat is graceful and sharp, Clint is clumsy and seizure like. That has never stopped him from challenging her to dance battles before, and it appears it won’t now.

“Put your money where your mouth is, ‘Tasha.”

She shakes her head fondly before letting him drag her onto the dance floor. She looks over her shoulder, “You coming?”

James gestures towards the bar where Bruce is helping the event staff out, “I’ll catch up later.”

They both know that he won’t. He walks to the bar with the intention to do what he always does at these things: sit at the bar with Bruce until it’s late enough that they can steal away without feeling guilty.

Bruce leans against the bar as James takes a seat, “Why is it that you get to show up to events an hour late and nobody bats an eyelash, but I have to be prompt?”

“Well for starters, you’re too nice. Now that people believe that you won’t code green at the slightest stressor, you get to be held accountable for your actions.”

“So, what I’m hearing is that I need to start brooding and be nonverbal like you, so that everyone knows that I could snap at any moment?”

The super soldier could cry when Bruce jokes with him like this. Like he isn’t a trained killing machine that could conceivably snap at any moment. Their trust in him means more than he could ever convey. Sometimes it’s hard to trust his own mind and judgment. On these days, it’s much easier to place his trust in their judgment. He doesn’t know how to explain to Bruce everything that his friendship means, so he settles for a smile. He thinks Bruce understands.

“So, the usual game plan tonight? I think it’s your turn to pick the movie.,” James Suggested.

Bruce groans, “Oh god yes, I can’t wait to get away from all these people. Thor made me dance earlier and I did not like that one bit.”

“Thor _made_ you dance?” Though soft spoken and reserved, James has never known Bruce to do anything he truly doesn’t want to do. Something about Bruce just inspires respect. 

“Yeah, he just came over here and declared that he was going to dance with everyone on the team tonight before dragging me to the dancefloor. It wasn’t awful, but I really could've done without.”

James snorts, and Bruce looks up from where he’d been grabbing two glasses, “I hope you know that, as part of the team, you will be danced with tonight.”

Protest rises to his lips, but Bruce just places a glass in front of him and assures him that there really is no stopping Thor when he has his mind set on something. Bruce just chuckles and leaves to help another guest.

Without Banner standing in front of him, he begins to get paranoid about having his back facing the room, so he turns on his stool to lean against the bar. A quick scan of the room reveals that Clint is indeed losing the dance battle, but he doesn’t seem to bothered by it. Tony is looming over Pepper’s shoulder, seemingly in a debate with some reporter. Sam has his phone out filming something.

Then his eyes skim over a sight that makes him ache for something he didn’t know he wanted. Steve is leading Thor across the dance floor in a waltz, and for a moment James is Bucky again. They’re in a club, and Bucky is worried that something bad is going to happen, but he can’t quite remember why. It doesn’t matter because he catches sight of Stevie. Stevie is tiny, but he fills up the room anyways as he leads one of the Queens in a swing dance. She looks like she might eat him up any minute now, and he grins in Bucky’s general direction. Something tells him that Steve might enjoy that.

Then it’s over. James is James again and Steve is big and he wants to dance more than he did that night. He just knows that he didn’t dance that night. He was too afraid. Since he woke up that last time, he has been working overtime to get caught up on everything he missed. At first he was too fucked up to even think about sex, but as he became more and more stable, it became obvious that he was exclusively attracted to guys. There had been paralyzing fear attached to that thought for no apparent reason. Through his reading and the memories that have come back, James knows now that the early 1900s were not forgiving. It makes sense that he had been too freaked to dance all that time ago. Even being in a drag bar was an arrestable offense, and he would never have been accepted into the military if he had that on his record.

James struggles to recall a memory of dancing. He knows that he has danced before, but cannot remember the feeling. The song comes to an end and James decides that nothing is going to stop him from dancing tonight, just once. Not any laws, not anybody, and certainly not his own traitorous brain.

-

Two hours, and no less than eight awful conversations later, James has still not worked up the courage to dance. He was hoping that Thor would come ask before he had to, but no such luck. As the night wore on, he was becoming less and less sure that Thor would ask at all. If he’s being honest, that thought stung a little more than he expected.

Looking away from the dance floor, James notices that Bruce is beginning to look frayed around the edges. He is about to suggest that they head out when Thor approaches the bar, “James! All night I have been contemplating what song you would most like to dance to. With the help of JARVIS and our good Captain, I have requested a song that I think you will greatly enjoy.” He pauses and reaches a hand out, “Will you give me the honor of this dance?”

James always expects Thor to be loud. The guy really only has one volume, and it’s six shots deep in a crowded bar. What James does not expect, but probably should’ve is all the attention this would draw. It seems like the whole place is staring. He wants to run and hide. He knows that he can say no, and Thor will back off because he’s good like that. James has almost talked himself out of it, but then he sees Steve smiling at him from across the room. James slips out of his suit jacket, puts his hand in Thor’s, and allows himself to be taken to the dancefloor. 

Thor walks them to the middle of the dancefloor before turning to face him, “I must confess, I am not well versed in Midgard’s dance etiquette, so please forgive me. Perhaps one day I will teach you all some traditional Asgardian dances.”

“Don’t worry. I can’t remember ever having danced, so you can’t possibly be worse than me.”

“I am honored to share this moment with you then.”

When the first notes of the next song play, James wonders how Steve still knows him so well: Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy. He knows how old the song is; maybe that’s why he likes it. It doesn’t really matter because once Thor steps into his personal space and takes hold of his other hand, his mind kind of goes offline. The feeling is similar to what happens when he starts to take apart a gun. The only difference is this muscle memory is much older, much deeper. He barely registers the look of surprise in Thor’s eyes as he slips into the lead. 

_They made him blow a bugle for his Uncle Sam_  
_It really brought him down because he couldn’t jam_  
_The captain seemed to understand_  
_Because the next day the cap’ went out and drafted a band_  


Reveling in the quick energy of the band and the sweet melody of the sisters’ harmony, the super soldier doesn’t think that he’ll ever stop dancing. James can feel something bubbling inside him. It works its way up his spine and when it gets to his throat, his head snaps back and something bright jumps out. It feels like joy. He’s used to memories coming back the painful way. When he is afraid, he will remember a moment of fear. When he is in pain, he will remember a moment of pain.

_He puts the boys asleep with boogie every night_  
_And wakes 'em up the same way in the early bright_  
_They clap their hands and stamp their feet_  
_Because they know how he plays when someone gives him a beat_  


Rarely is he overcome with joy, but it is something that he vows to try more often. This is the first time that he has really, truly felt like Bucky since he awoke. He can’t help but wonder if this is how Bucky felt all the time. This unbridled happiness just to be alive and moving. He hopes so. 

Thor is following James as best he can, but when the song ends and Steve steps in to take his place, the god gladly steps away.

James takes this moment to roll his sleeves up a bit, “Why haven’t we done this yet?”

“We’ve done this a thousand times, James,” Steve sounds nostalgic, but it doesn’t bother James too much.

He just tilts his head to the side, and looks up at Steve, “What’s one more time then?”

The band begins to play Ella Fitzgerald’s “The Dipsy Doodle,” and Steve gets to watch a slow smile of recognition slide across James’ face.

The captain looks at him for what feels like the first time ever, “One more time? You’re not getting out of this that easily. This is a weekly thing now.”

James holds his hands out for Steve to take, “You know, I think I could live with that.”

**Author's Note:**

> [Bucky's Suit](https://media.gq.com/photos/5ad7bfebf2061729bfb57198/master/w_1600%2Cc_limit/Sebastian-Stan-The-Suit-Stays-In-The-Picture-GQ-April-041818-07.jpg%5D)
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> [Clint's Suit](https://www.tuxedosonline.com/one-button-shawl-tuxedo-lav-w93411t-lavender.html)
> 
> Drop a comment and let me know what you think!


End file.
